What Is A Bullet Journal And Why Should You Start One?

You may have seen the term “bullet journal” popping up here and there on the internet in the past few months. Try to look up #bulletjournal or #bujo on the social media platform of your choice, and you can relish your eyes on a sea of neatly inked notebook pages designed to track everything from daily to-do lists to motivational quotes. Go ahead, roll your eyes. But bullet journals are an awesome productivity tool if you can learn to adapt them to your life.

What is Bullet Journal?

A bullet journal is just a notebook that encompasses a huge variety of planning schemes. You can create calendars and to-do lists, and you can also use it as a diary, a planner, a notepad, and much more. If you’ve ever bought a planner, but didn’t love the design of the pre-printed pages, the bullet journal is your opportunity to make a planner that fits the way your brain works.

There are some set of conventions that many, but not all, bullet journalers stick to. You create an index to help you find things, a few pages that help you plan the year, and a two-page spread for important dates and tasks for each month or each month. Then, you write down each day’s events and plans in the form of bulleted lists. Therefore, the name is bullet journal.

Bullet Journal Terminologies:

The bullet journal system uses a lot of fancy languages that makes everything more difficult to understand. Here’s what those terms actually mean:

Bullet journal: a method of note-taking and journaling that uses bullet points as the base structure

Index: a table of contents that you update as you go

Daily Log: stuff you did and/or need to do today (+ other observations)

Monthly Log: traditional month calendar + stuff you need to do that month + stuff you forgot to do last month

Rapid Logging: symbols that help you get that stuff done

Future Log: year-at-a-glance calendar where you can put events, goals, and long-term stuff you need to do

7 Reasons Why You Start Bullet Journaling

#1 Bullet journals are inexpensive

Bullet Journal

Bullet journal doesn’t need fancy supplies. You can just start with a notebook and a pen. Though you can craft it as you like, it doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive.

#2 You can choose your layout

Bullet Journal

The pages of a bullet journal aren’t entirely structured. They are formatted with bullet points across the page as a base. Bullet journals allow you to customize the pages for each week as you like.

#3 You can be creative

Bullet Journal

If you like to be creative, welcome to the #bujo community. Bullet journals are an outlet for creativity, whether you’re gluing in pictures, doodling, using fun colors, or sketching around your weekly plans. Let your creative juices flowing with bullet journaling.

#4 You can keep it minimalist

Bullet Journal

Bullet journaling has no rules. If creativity, fancy page layouts, and graphics aren’t your thing, you can stick to a minimal approach. Do what works for you.

#5 It’s more than a planner

The beauty of the bullet journal is its ability to be whatever you want it to be. Yes, it can be a planner, a journal and a to-do list, but it can also be so much more. Use it to track your sleep schedule or write down what makes you happy. Write down your favorite song lyrics, use it as an art journal, or use it as a place to draw or anything else that strikes your fancy.

#6 It’s easy

Bullet Journal

Bullet journal doesn’t have to be Pinterest worthy. Just as mentioned in the 4th point, you can keep it simple and minimalist. Just pick up a pen and a notebook and get to work.

#7 It’s fun

Bullet Journal

Bullet journal is really fun. You can be an artist and track, plan and journal. At the same time, it enhances your productivity. You will never get bored once you start creating your own bullet journal.

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Aspiring Quill is a blog for writers, readers, and artists. Our aim is to untangle the written word by providing helpful, inspirational posts about writing, reading, and different arts.

We aim to stimulate and maintain interest in the written word, to foster a creative and literary culture and admire the beauty of it. We strive to help writers write better! We also extend our hands to those who are uniquely creative. We feel the pride to have published them on this website and will continue to do so.